blandishment

noun

blan·​dish·​ment ˈblan-dish-mənt 

: something that tends to coax or cajole : allurement

—often used in plural

… refuses to yield to their blandishments …

—Irving Babbitt

Did you know?

When Star Wars audiences first meet former smuggler Lando Calrissian—played iconically by Billy Dee Williams—in The Empire Strikes Back, he is full of blandishments, offering flattery (telling Leia “You truly belong here with us among the clouds”) and gifts to our heroes in the form of food and drink (“Will you join me for a little refreshment?”) in order to entice them into what we soon discover is a trap. Notably, before the whole sordid deal goes down (and before Lando’s eventual redemption), Han Solo calls him “an old smoothie.” Lando’s verbal smoothness can be linked to blandishment too: the word was formed from the verb blandish, meaning “to coax with flattery.” Blandish ultimately comes from the Latin adjective blandus, meaning “mild” or “flattering,” source too of our adjective bland, which typically describes things boring and flavorless but which can also mean “smooth and soothing in manner or quality”—a meaning that also applies to everyone’s favorite Cloud City administrator.

Examples of blandishment in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Impressed by the senator’s blandishments, the egoistic journalist argues military strategy and then faces a moment of conscience. —Armond White, National Review, 17 May 2023

People want to hear blandishments about engagement and infrastructure. —Rory Smith, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2023

Few can resist the Beltway’s beckoning, the blather of political pundits or the blandishment of campaign operatives urging them to run. —Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2023

The fateful lane change arose out of one mayor’s resistance to such blandishments. —Ephrat Livni, Quartz, 7 May 2020

Word History

Etymology

blandish + -ment, probably after Anglo-French blandisement, blaundissement and continental Old & Middle French blandissement

First Known Use

circa 1553, in the meaning defined above

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